Treatment with thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone).

Clinical examination included motor and sensory testing, as well as assigning a Sunnybrook score based upon level of function.

Patients were examined at 24 h, 72 h, 1 week, 1 month, 4 months, and 12 months after injury.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 20 patients taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults.

A variety of physiological variables were followed during treatment.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and multicenter study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone) group a baseline to be compared against.

Running at several centres spread the TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone) study over different clinics and patient groups.

What Was Measured

Clinical examination included motor and sensory testing, as well as assigning a Sunnybrook score based upon level of function.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Motor Activity, Placebo Effect, Spinal Cord Injuries and Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone) in 20 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 1995 (Journal of neurotrauma), a journal based in United States.

More context: the TRH (Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone) compound page, all human trials.